Dancing Through Life
by CaptainBunnyKiller
Summary: Sara, a girl tired of a life decides to move far away from her ex husband and ends up in Storybrooke, where Mr. Gold, a man who is grieving his wife's death in his own way, never letting anyone close enough to know him. Rumbelle AU, mixing in the movies Love and Other Troubles and Marilyn Hotchkiss BD&CS whom Emilie and Robert was in , also making Belle the savior of the curse.
1. Chapter 1

Sara stepped out of her yellow car she had bought a week after she came to America, how her life had changed so quickly. A month ago she wouldn't have thought she'd stand here, in the middle of nowhere. What was that name of the place she was at again? Storybrooke..well, that was certainly an original name, she thought to herself as she grabbed her bag she hastily had packed when she left Sydney to get here.

She had gotten so tired of it all, living a life she felt was something she had never choosed to live. It wasn't necessarily what one would call a 'bad' life, on the opposite really, it was such a…good life, a safe life where the biggest surprise was finding your neighbor's mail with your's. She knew she should be happy about it, but she had never gotten the choice to decide how she wanted to live her life. It was her dear papa, Moe who had introduced her to the company's owner, Gabriel.

Oh that name still made her furious when she heard it, what a complete and utter barmy arse. A nice looking one, sure, she'd give him that, but that was truly the only good thing she could say about him. She knew her dad only wanted what was best for her, a secure future that wouldn't involve her working in the same flower shop her papa was working in till she was forty two, but if he would just had let her made her own choices she could have shown she was capable of taking care of herself.

But no, he had practically forced her to accept it when Gabriel proposed to her eight months ago. She knew she should have said no, that she then should have finally let the World know she in fact had an opinion in the matter, but naive as she was she accepted for her father's sake. He was acting for her best interest, thinking that someone who was so well spoken of, a man with a good job and salary and who was known to make all women blush in his presence, well except herself, would be the right one for her. And she hoped that her father was right, that maybe she was just being silly and stubborn, that such a man would be the right for her to settle down with, and maybe could learn to love with time.

But all of her hopes had shattered once accidently found him with his pants and down and his secretary down on her knees at his office. That was the first time she had ever really made her own choice, deciding that enough was enough and had filed for a divorce after four months of a marriage. He didn't seem to mind too much, just shouting to her that she was crazy for breaking up with him, then telling all of their 'mutual friends' that he was the one who had gotten enough of her and dumped her. She couldn't care less, as long as she got away from that jerk she was happy. Besides, their so called mutual friends was in truth his business partners that she was forced to socialize with since she was his wife, if they thought she was the one who got dump, sure, let that be the way that it happened.

And now here she was, in Storybrooke maine, a town she had randomly found while she was driving from Boston. It was funny, she had spend a little less than a month in Boston, yet she had never heard of this town, nor read about it. Sure it seemed small, but shouldn't someone know there was a civilization here? She didn't know what drew her to this town, she had just seen the welcome sign the town and decided to follow the road that lead in here. Maybe she would just spend a few days here to rest and then continue on her drive through America, finding a place that she felt she could find her own adventure at. There must be some kind of place that rents out rooms to sleep in, even in such a small town, right?

She swung her bag over the shoulder and walked around trying to find a motel or something, hopefully it would still be open this late, she looked up at the clock that was in the middle of town, it was after all…8:15?

"I wouldn't count on that clock if I were you" a voice said suddenly. She turned around to see a man with a dog, carrying an umbrella walking towards her.

"Why's that?"

"It hasn't moved in years, guess it's a good excuse if you're running late for work" he smiled as she laughed quietly. "So I take it you're not from here?"

"No, just passing by…hey, this place wouldn't happen to have somewhere where you can rent a room?"

"Ah, well if you continue walking that way-" he pointed his umbrella in a direction "you'll find Granny's bed and breakfast".

"Oh, well thanks…"

"Archie, and this is Pongo" he nodded down to his dog. She kneeled down to pet his dog, she couldn't resist, she had always had a soft spot for animals. Her father used to joke that she would end up marrying a man covered in fur when she was little, well even that would have been better than marrying Gabriel.

"Why, hello Pongo" she smiled and rose up after a while. "And again, thanks Archie".

"No problem…sorry, you didn't say your name".

"Sara" she answered as she took his hand to shake it.

"Sara, it was nice meeting you" he gave her another smile and then walked away with his dog.

She continued to walk in the direction he had pointed out til she saw the building which must be the bed and breakfast. She walked in, looking around the room who had dust in every corner as she suddenly heard a woman shout.

"You're out all night, and now you're going out again!" she turned around to see a young woman walking down the stairs angrily.

"I should've moved to Boston!" the girl shouted back as the other woman, this one much older walking down after her.

"I'm sorry that my heart attack interfered with your plans to sleep your way down the Eastern Seaboard!" the elderly woman snapped back, none of the women seemed to notice that she was standing there, since they continued their fight.

"Excuse me, I'd like a room" she said, loud enough for both of them to hear it, seeing as both of them turned their heads towards her.

"Really?" the old woman asked, seeming confused.

"This is the bed and breakfast, yeah?" she asked jokingly, as the old woman ducked into another room.

"Would you like a forest view or a square view? Normally there's an upgrade fee for the square, but it has-" the old woman shouted from the room as she then returns with the ledger, which looked like it hadn't been used in years.

"Square is fine" she interrupted, honestly not caring whatever she could see from her temporary room, all that mattered is that it had a bed in it.

"What's the name?" the old woman asked.

"Sara French" she answered as the old woman wrote it down.

"What brings you to Storybrooke, Sara?" the younger girl frowned, looking like she was crazy for visiting willingly.

"Passing by, taking a break before I continue across America".

"You've been in Boston then?" the girl asked curiously.

"For a month, yeah" she answered with a smile.

"What's it like? Is there a lot of fun guys there?" the girl asked back with a smile.

"Ruby, you're not moving to Boston, and we're not having this argument in front of our costumer, and that's finale" the old woman said sharply, making Ruby sigh and roll her eyes. "Now, take this to Mr. Gold" she handed over the girl a bundle of money.

"Sure, anything for you Granny" the young girl said ironically as she took the money and left.

"Sorry about that, we're usually not like this in front of costumers" the old woman smiled weakly before she shook her head. "So, for how long will you be with us?"

"A week, just a week" probably less, she thought to herself as Granny turned around to fetch her room key.

"Great, welcome to Storybrooke".

**A/N: **Hi, I know I already have another Rumbelle story, but since I got the idea of this one, I just had to start writing it, hope you enjoy it /Jonna


	2. Chapter 2

He didn't like this, he didn't like this at all, it was too…awkward. Usually he loved it, how he made everyone feel awkward and unsure about themselves in his presence, it was one of the many perks with being the town 'monster'. But he never liked the last Tuesday of the month, the time he had his monthly meeting with Archie Hopper. And unfortunately for him, it was now time to let the one hour awkwardness ensue.

He sat down at the man's office, while the red haired man looked nervously around, how could the fool still not be used to him after all of his meetings?

"So, ah, how has business been?" the man asked after getting his notebook.

"Mr. Hopper, I do hope there's no unfortunate misunderstanding here, I don't pay for forced small talk" he replied coldly as the now even more nervous man sat down in his chair.

"No, no of course not" the man took a deep breath before continuing. "Last time we spoke, I don't know if you remember, but you didn't seem too…pleased with the turn out of our meeting. Why was that?"

He simply gave the doctor one of his famous cold stares before giving him an answer, dripping in irony. "Oh, so one shall be pleased that one's wife is dead?"

"No, you're still grieving, it's natural. But every time I ask you anything about her you avoid answering my questions. I understand that memories and feelings are private for you, but I'm here to help you get over-"

"Get over?" he interrupted, not wanting to know however he'd finish that sentence. He chuckled darkly at the foolish man who apparently was a professional at this. "She's gone, she's gone forever! She's not coming back. And you want me to forget about her?"

"I'm not saying you should forget about her, but maybe if you tried to spend less time dwelling on bad moments with her, it might become easier to move on with your life. We can start small, I'll ask simple questions, like…What was her name?"

He took a deep breath, needing to compose himself, he hadn't said her name out loud for so long. "Ellen" he finally said with a deep sadness in his voice, feeling like just saying her name was a dishonor to her memory.

"How long did you know each other before she…"

"Jumped off a bridge and killed herself?" he was trying his best not to lash out on him, but forcing him to talk about the one person he had cared about while being so bloody nervous was making him lose his temper, he felt his grip tightening on his cane. "About a year, we got married after being together for six months, it all happened quickly".

"Right" he simply said and wrote it down. "Do you know why she decided to, 'leave'?"

"We didn't speak much during the last month. There was conflict between us. She felt trapped here in Storybrooke. She suggested that we'd try to see the World, or at least visit Boston once…" he smiled a bit to himself when he thought about it, how his Ellen had told him everything there was to know about Egypt, and how much she'd love to see it one day, going as far as putting up pictures of the pyramids all around their house to subtly hint what she wanted for her birthday present. He felt his smile faded, how he wish he would have granted that wish, maybe she still would have been alive then.

"Sometimes she would tell me I chose work over her" he looked up at Archie who was writing down his every word, looking like he was trying to understand his whole mess of a life.

"It isn't my fault she died" he simply stated, making the doctor look up at him, confusion written in his face.

"I didn't say it was" the man said frowning.

"If I would have known, of course I would…I would have helped her".

Archie looked at him for a moment, putting the pieces together. "Mr. Gold, do you blame yourself for her death?"

As if it wasn't silent enough, he swore he could hear crickets in the background, this were getting too uncomfortable. He rose up from the chair.

"As…_ lovely_ as it's been, I'm afraid I will have to leave" he took his cane and started to walk to the door slowly. He heard Mr. Hopper fumbling about his office, saying something about the session not being done yet, like he actually cared about the most hated man in town.

"Wait, Gold!" the man hurried before the door. Well it seemed he had misjudged this man's bravery, apparently he had some, blocking the way of the man who had the most power around here while he clearly wasn't in the mood.  
"We are making progress, we should book another session soon, how about next week?"

"Well, since you asked so _nicely_ about how my business is doing earlier, I suppose I should tell you. It's going well, I predict I'll be quite busy in the near future, unfortunately it seems like I won't have time for this-" he gestured at the notebook still in the doctor's hands "-anytime soon, Mr. Hopper". The man just looked at him.

"I know it can be scary opening up and talking about the things that hurts us, the things that makes us feel vulnerable. But if we don't let it out, we'll be alone with that feeling, and that's even scarier" Archie said symptomatically, pleading to make him go along with his way.

"Your rent is due next week, Mr. Hopper, you better not be late with it" he said, trying to get back the image of the powerful Mr. Gold which he always felt he lost in this room.

"Of course, Mr. Gold". The man looked a tad disappointed at his answer, but moved out of the way.

"Oh and, I hope I don't need to remind you that any word that has been said here mustn't leave this room…not if you would prefer your rent to be doubled that is".

"Mr. Gold, with or without your threats, I would never break a patient's confidentiality".

"Oh, and I suppose if our Mayor where to threaten you for your job it wouldn't change your mind?" he said with a smirk, knowing the man's bravery only reached so far. Archie seemed a bit taken a back by what he said. "I thought so" he walked away from the office, finally leaving the dreaded building and going home to his wonderful, silent solitude.

Not many people seemed to be up and about this late, not that he complained, he did love the quietness of _his_town. No matter how much the mayor might believe otherwise, it was his town, he was the one with all the power around here after all. She was just a puppet he was playing around with, which she couldn't tell since she was too busy in her silly custody battle she had with the birth mother of the wee lad Henry, not to mention trying to keep her '_not-so-subtle_' relationship with sheriff Graham.

As he walked down the village square a yellow car drove past one of the roads. Well that was certainly odd, he hadn't seen that car before, why was a stranger driving into Storybrooke? Oh well, it would have to wait till the morning, right now he needed to get home.

As he finally he stepped inside his house he let out a breath, he hadn't meant to let out as much as he did about Ellen, and Hopper wanted more? Couldn't he see he didn't like to speak about her, how much it hurt him that the only person who had ever accepted him had taken her life to get away from him? He shrugged of his coat as he entered his study, taking out a bottle of his favorite scotch, MacCutcheon whisky.

Not only did it hurt him to talk about her, but how would anyone ever understand that he barley could remember much of her? He had distant memories of their life together, a few bittersweet and strange ones, but mostly memories of their fighting, how he had treated her, how he had drove her to the point where she felt the only way to end things was by ending her life.

But he could barley remember her face. He had looked through a dozen of boxes on the attic, in search of a photo album or anything, but he couldn't find any. What kind of horrible man couldn't remember the face of the woman he loved?

He couldn't say it was because he was getting old, or the fact that he had been drinking a lot more since her passing, but he didn't remember how beautiful she was, nor had nearly any proof of her. Except the most valuable thing he owned, much more important than all of the silly trinkets in his pawn shop, the cup she had chipped.

He walked over to the small cabinet where he kept it in his study, taking it out and looking at it. He remembered that day, it was the first time she had been at home with him, and he had made a cheeky quip about god knows what and she had accidently dropped it. She had been so worried, insisting that she'd pay for it, knowing very well that it was a very old and expensive set. He had brushed it off, saying it was just a cup.

It wasn't just a cup, it was the only proof that Ellen wasn't just a dream, but had actually existed once. He took a swig of the scotch, wanting to forget the feeling that was building inside of him.

His Ellen had taken her life exactly four months ago, yet it felt like thirty years which he had been grieving her death, and not all the scotch his large fortune could afford could drown his feelings away it seemed, and believe him, he had tried.

He sat down on his chair, as he put the scotch bottle aside to feel the cup she once had touched.

"I'm so sorry Ellen" he said as he finally felt the first tears make it's way down his cheeks.


End file.
